Actors: Brittany Robertson, Thomas Dekker, Natasha Henstridge, Phoebe Tonkin, Shelley Hennig
Summary: Cassie Blake's world is turned upside down after her mother dies in a mysterious accident, forcing Cassie to move in with her loving grandmother Jane in the small town of Chance Harbor, Washington.When strange and dangerous things begin to happen, Cassie's new friends are forced to tell her their secret - they are all witches and her arrival will complete the Circle.
***
[Note: This contains spoilers, please watch the episode before hand. Thanks.]
[Note: This contains spoilers, please watch the episode before hand. Thanks.]
There's nothing better than a good mystery involving some sort of super natural power, or ability. If done correctly, the ancient back stories, and interlacing of families, allows for interesting avenues for the story to go. Good character go bad, bad characters redeem themselves, and you can repeat the process. The only caveat is that each time you change the dynamic, it needs to be plausible.
This why I rank "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" as my favorite show of all-time. Each time Angel switched side, or Spike's eventual arc to champion, or Willow's dip into black magic, the story leading up to it was easily understandable. This has been carried on by "Angel", "Vampire Diaries", and early "Heroes". If you need to re-watch an episode multiple times, or review past episodes to figure out a twist, then it was done wrong.
Thankfully, "The Secret Circle" is in the hands of one of the best show runners/creator/human beings alive in Kevin Williamson (Dawson's Creek, Vampire Diaries, Scream). Like every other pilot he has been a part of, you finish the show with a very clear idea of where the show is headed.
The opening scene did a great job of setting the tone for the series. There's a bad witch (warlock?) dressed in black (of course) who kills the innocent women dressed in white (oh, CW, with your metaphorical story telling). The woman is the mother of the protagonist, Cassie Blake, played by the adorable Brittany Robertson. Seriously, she can play detached, cynical girl with the best of them. I hope the writers do a better job helping her show range then those on Life Unexpected did. This girl could easily be the Joey Potter of this generation, minus the hair tucking and talking out of the side of her mouth, with Jen Lindley's acting ability.
Once she gets to Chance Harbor, Washington, which when it's first shown, looks like the sister city of Forks, but once we get into town proper, it gives off a Capeside-Salem-Massachusetts feel. Which is perfect since the show is about witches. The show was originally suppose to be New Salem, Maine, but even the CW didn't want to be that obvious.
We meet all the typical character in a town like this: Cassie's Grandmother (The elder), Faye (the maybe-bad teenage witch), Dianna (the good witch), Adam (the brooding teen who could be good or bad; Angel), Dawn (the hidden bad witch), Charles (the big bad), and Ethan (the holder of past knowledge). Once the interweaving of the character occurs, the plot takes form. Charles is Dianna father, Dawn is Faye's mom, Ethan who was "destined" to be with Cassie's mom, is Adam's dad, and Adam is "destined" for Cassie but dates Dianna. Confused, yet?
For a pilot, they pack a lot of the interweaving in it. Some of these reveals could have been held off, but no ones tells stories like that anymore (the Vampire Diaries have blown through 6 seasons worth of characters in 2 years!). Gone are the days of the slow, introspective plot where we learn to feel for the character. Today we need to be instantly gratified with a love triangle, or a plot twist. I don't know if it's the right way or not, but I feel that we need a little more time with the character before they threw out the star crossed lovers storyline.
Now, that you've meet everyone, it is time for the reveals. In the last 15 minutes, we find out the Ethan and Dawn are working together, that Faye is just power hungry, Dianna wants to control it (I see these two flip-flopping at some point), Cassie's is the most powerful of all ("Make it stop!" Is a very simple, but apparently, powerful spell), and baddies will be coming for Cassie and her "power". The latter of which was obviously if you were slightly paying attention during the show, but you know, let's beat that dead horse one more time before the credits.
The magic in the show is nothing special, yet. It's the one thing I thought was done perfectly by the writers: To slowly reveal the power of the teenagers, while showing the devastatingly evil magic they could ascend to through their parents. The only disappointing thing was that spell were, for lack of a better word, lame. The main one they say out loud is "a drop of water/light as air," is very simplistic. If they went for simplicity, at least make it sound a little more ancient; use older, less commonly used words.
I read a review on the A.V. Club that said this show has the possibility to be "Dawson's Creek by way of Twilight", if I'm the CW, and this happens, I'm orgasming in my office right now. Those two entities have the most loyal fan bases in the last 20 years of pop culture, along with "Lost" and the aforementioned, "Buffy". The network would make untold money if that happened.
Hopefully, the Secret Circle will learn form it's predecessors and string along a narrative that is not always predictable (well, this is the CW, some of it is going to be predictable). If they achieve this, they will form a powerful combination with Vampire Diaries on Thursday.
Rating: 8.5/10. Gave you most of the background in 60 minutes, but left enough mystery to allow the show to breath, and possibly separate from the books.
Interest: Beautiful women (Shelley Hennig is much prettier than she looks in the pilot), interesting story, and Kevin Williamson. You're damn right, I'm still watching.
This why I rank "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" as my favorite show of all-time. Each time Angel switched side, or Spike's eventual arc to champion, or Willow's dip into black magic, the story leading up to it was easily understandable. This has been carried on by "Angel", "Vampire Diaries", and early "Heroes". If you need to re-watch an episode multiple times, or review past episodes to figure out a twist, then it was done wrong.
Thankfully, "The Secret Circle" is in the hands of one of the best show runners/creator/human beings alive in Kevin Williamson (Dawson's Creek, Vampire Diaries, Scream). Like every other pilot he has been a part of, you finish the show with a very clear idea of where the show is headed.
The opening scene did a great job of setting the tone for the series. There's a bad witch (warlock?) dressed in black (of course) who kills the innocent women dressed in white (oh, CW, with your metaphorical story telling). The woman is the mother of the protagonist, Cassie Blake, played by the adorable Brittany Robertson. Seriously, she can play detached, cynical girl with the best of them. I hope the writers do a better job helping her show range then those on Life Unexpected did. This girl could easily be the Joey Potter of this generation, minus the hair tucking and talking out of the side of her mouth, with Jen Lindley's acting ability.
Once she gets to Chance Harbor, Washington, which when it's first shown, looks like the sister city of Forks, but once we get into town proper, it gives off a Capeside-Salem-Massachusetts feel. Which is perfect since the show is about witches. The show was originally suppose to be New Salem, Maine, but even the CW didn't want to be that obvious.
We meet all the typical character in a town like this: Cassie's Grandmother (The elder), Faye (the maybe-bad teenage witch), Dianna (the good witch), Adam (the brooding teen who could be good or bad; Angel), Dawn (the hidden bad witch), Charles (the big bad), and Ethan (the holder of past knowledge). Once the interweaving of the character occurs, the plot takes form. Charles is Dianna father, Dawn is Faye's mom, Ethan who was "destined" to be with Cassie's mom, is Adam's dad, and Adam is "destined" for Cassie but dates Dianna. Confused, yet?
For a pilot, they pack a lot of the interweaving in it. Some of these reveals could have been held off, but no ones tells stories like that anymore (the Vampire Diaries have blown through 6 seasons worth of characters in 2 years!). Gone are the days of the slow, introspective plot where we learn to feel for the character. Today we need to be instantly gratified with a love triangle, or a plot twist. I don't know if it's the right way or not, but I feel that we need a little more time with the character before they threw out the star crossed lovers storyline.
Now, that you've meet everyone, it is time for the reveals. In the last 15 minutes, we find out the Ethan and Dawn are working together, that Faye is just power hungry, Dianna wants to control it (I see these two flip-flopping at some point), Cassie's is the most powerful of all ("Make it stop!" Is a very simple, but apparently, powerful spell), and baddies will be coming for Cassie and her "power". The latter of which was obviously if you were slightly paying attention during the show, but you know, let's beat that dead horse one more time before the credits.
The magic in the show is nothing special, yet. It's the one thing I thought was done perfectly by the writers: To slowly reveal the power of the teenagers, while showing the devastatingly evil magic they could ascend to through their parents. The only disappointing thing was that spell were, for lack of a better word, lame. The main one they say out loud is "a drop of water/light as air," is very simplistic. If they went for simplicity, at least make it sound a little more ancient; use older, less commonly used words.
I read a review on the A.V. Club that said this show has the possibility to be "Dawson's Creek by way of Twilight", if I'm the CW, and this happens, I'm orgasming in my office right now. Those two entities have the most loyal fan bases in the last 20 years of pop culture, along with "Lost" and the aforementioned, "Buffy". The network would make untold money if that happened.
Hopefully, the Secret Circle will learn form it's predecessors and string along a narrative that is not always predictable (well, this is the CW, some of it is going to be predictable). If they achieve this, they will form a powerful combination with Vampire Diaries on Thursday.
Rating: 8.5/10. Gave you most of the background in 60 minutes, but left enough mystery to allow the show to breath, and possibly separate from the books.
Interest: Beautiful women (Shelley Hennig is much prettier than she looks in the pilot), interesting story, and Kevin Williamson. You're damn right, I'm still watching.
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